Failure is the Only Optin
by Stephane Richer
Summary: Maybe the only thing lonelier than too much talent is none at all.


Failure is the Only Option

Disclaimer: don't own

Notes: Day 20 of the 30 Day Cheesy Tropes Challenge by ghiraher on tumblr: magic spell

* * *

Aomine wakes up on Tuesday feeling weird, not the good type of almost nervous weird he used to get before games early on in middle school, or the bad type of sick weird or even any other word to describe it other than weird. It's something funny in his hands and even the way he stands is kind of off. Probably nothing will come of it; maybe it's a delayed effect from the last time he tried to stomach some of Satsuki's cooking. When he gets to basketball practice he still feels weird and it transfers to his playing abilities. He can't make a shot; he can't jump high enough to block; his passes are lethargic and easily picked off.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" Wakamatsu says, jabbing him in the chest.

"If I fucking knew I'd fix it," Aomine snarls back.

This is beyond frustrating. He likes a challenge but overcoming something like this is impossible—he doesn't even know where to start. He can't even fucking dribble anymore. It's ridiculous; it's impossible.

"You look kind of sick," says Harasawa. "Maybe you should go home and get some sleep and we'll try tomorrow, okay?"

It's not like Aomine has any better ideas of his own.

* * *

The next day he still feels weird and if anything practice is even worse. He sits out the last half while Satsuki worriedly hovers over him and checks out everything with the medical kit.

"Do you need to see a doctor?"

He rolls his eyes at her. This is not helping at all. "I told you I don't feel sick. Just weird."

"But lots of people don't feel sick when they're sick. You might have some muscle disease."

"I seriously doubt it."

At least they're meeting up with Tetsu and Kagami after this; Kagami may have a one-track basketball mind but they'll be a bit of a distraction.

Of course, Kagami immediately mentions playing a one-on-one and he just won't drop it. Aomine looks over at Satsuki for backup but she's flirting with Tetsu again. Typical. He sighs.

"I can't play."

"Saving yourself for the game?"

"No. I can't play. Since yesterday I've felt really weird and I can't shoot or pass or dribble or block or anything."

"Are you saying that because you want me to go easy on you?"

"Please," says Aomine. "The day I ever ask for that is a cold one in hell. I'm not going to play you. It makes me sick even looking at a basketball."

"How the hell did something like this happen?"

"Fuck if I know."

Kagami stares into space, lost in thought. "Hey."

"I'm not playing even if you give me a huge handicap."

Kagami scowls. "I wasn't going to say that. When's the last time you played in a game?"

"Monday."

"Did anything weird happen in that game?"

"Like pulling a muscle or something? Nah, I went over it already with Coach and Satsuki."

"No, like an alien possession."

"What?"

"Like did you feel something, you know…inside you? Like come in and steal your talent?"

"That's so fucked up, Kagami."

"Well, did you?"

"Of course I didn't. Aliens don't exist anyway, dumbass."

* * *

Aomine grows more frustrated but everyone else just seems more worried. He goes to the hospital at Satsuki's insistence, and though they don't find anything wrong with him it does almost nothing to ease her fears. He promises he's got no rare disease or anything of the sort. Those things don't manifest that quickly, do they?

Kagami says it's fine and though he misses playing basketball with Aomine he's not going to push things, and while he knows Kagami is trying to be helpful (for once) it only makes him feel weirder. Even Midorima has started texting him his horoscope stats, reminding him to watch Oha-Asa and such, and on Friday he even comes to school to give him the day's lucky item, a teddy bear (this one is wearing a karate outfit and is actually kind of cute).

Wakamatsu is still suspicious and Harasawa telling him to wait it out isn't helping anyone; if Aomine felt like it (and he really, really doesn't) he'd tell Wakamatsu off because this is such a stupid thing to fake and he has zero reason to do it. There are a billion better, more fun ways to mess with Wakamatsu than pretending he can't play basketball anymore.

Ryou is perhaps the most frantic of all; he's making extra-strength bento boxes for Aomine every day that still taste damn good but aren't doing anything to improve his basketball skills. They eat lunch on the roof together and it's like Ryou expects him to jump off or something. This isn't the end of the world. He feels like shit, and actually kind of worthless, but he's not weak enough to just end everything after less than a week of shitty results.

On Friday afternoon he sits out of the game; Matsuoka starts at forward instead and Touou wins by the skin of their teeth on Wakamatsu's late-game heroics. Aomine would never choose to play by his style but it really works for him and he does get those dunks and blocks down hard enough to make a damn good statement. He still feels eyes on him in the locker room that seem to be accusing him, that if he'd played it wouldn't have been so tough. Well it would have been a definite loss if he'd played like this, that's for damn sure.

* * *

The next Tuesday he's still playing like shit and he storms into Harasawa's office.

"Look, this is probably going to be permanent. I suck. I don't know why; I don't know what I can do to stop sucking. I don't know if you want to kick me off the team or what but I can't just go on like this."

Harasawa tucks a lock of hair behind his ears. "Well."

Aomine motions for him to continue.

"I don't think kicking you off the team will solve anything. There's still a chance of this coming back as easily as it went, and even if it doesn't we still need your basketball IQ. And I've retaught kids before who had great smarts but terrible fundamentals. You might not be a star again but you can definitely be a starter if you work hard enough."

It sounds incredibly unappealing, but it's not like he's got any better ideas.

"Okay."

* * *

The thought comes to him that night, a thought he's managed to successfully trample the previous week when it came anywhere near him, that maybe this is it. Maybe all of his friends will drop him now that he's officially talentless. Maybe they were keeping him around because they had to put up with him for his talent, because they liked playing basketball with him, because they were hoping this talent would rub off. Maybe the only thing lonelier than too much talent is none at all. He clenches his jaw and rolls over in bed. Not tonight.

* * *

Ryou doesn't make him an extra-strength bento box but joins him on the roof anyway.

"How's the new manga coming along?"

"Really good, actually." Ryou smiles. "I'm about two thirds of the way through and I've planned out the rest. There are some details that are going to be a little tough, though."

"You can handle them; I've seen your artwork.

Ryou beams at him. They keep talking manga for the rest of lunch and though their tastes run differently (Aomine toward ecchi and Ryou toward sports and drama) there's still a lot to say. And Ryou's so caught up in it he doesn't even apologize the entire time.

At practice, Wakamatsu is stern with him but offers to help him with layups and is almost patient with him. It's weird, not really a role reversal but definitely a change of some sort. It's not bad to not be constantly provoked by him, honestly; it's actually refreshing and he lets down his guard a little bit. His accuracy is pretty low but he's still getting his form in order and while it's hard considering he's never had any consistent form, Harasawa says it's actually probably better. There aren't consistent mistakes that he's going to make, no muscle memory as strong as people who started off with their form completely wrong.

Satsuki decides that since he's working hard at basketball that he should study with her that night, and since he can't really shoot hoops he can't think of an excuse fast enough. It's hard and boring and annoying and makes them cross with each other, but it occurs to him when he leaves that it's been a long time since he'd hung out with Satsuki at her house properly.

They hang out with Tetsu and Kagami again later in the week; Kagami seems bummed that they can't play one-on-one but he's more concerned about hanging out with Aomine.

"I mean you'll still talk basketball and stuff with me, right?"

"Since they haven't found a cure for idiocy I sure as hell won't stop arguing with you."

"Hey."

"Don't tease him too much, Aomine-kun," says Kuroko.

"He puts the target on his back."

"You seem to be taking all of this in stride, though."

"It's frustrating as hell but there's not much I can do about it. Other than try to relearn it, which doesn't seem to be doing shit."

"It takes time. Just remember what you told me when you taught me how to shoot."

"Eh, that's different."

"Did you talk to Kise-kun about it?"

"That guy? No, not really."

"Talk to me about what, Kurokocchi?"

Aomine sighs. He had a modeling job today of all days?

"Aomine-kun has somehow forgotten how to play basketball."

"I knew you were dumb, Aominecchi, but not that—wait, you're serious, aren't you?"

Aomine nods. "I can't do shit."

He expects Kise to start crying or start ignoring him or declare that he will nurse him back to health but instead he reaches out and clutches Aomine's hand.

"That's really terrible. I'm so, so sorry, Aominecchi. And I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"Damn right I don't. That's all I've been talking about for the past week and a half."

"Okay. Do you want to know how my photo shoot went?"

It's Kise. He's going to tell them anyway.

* * *

He feels better the next Tuesday; maybe he's finally getting the hang of things in their new order. Midorima texts him that his lucky item is a miniature karate uniform so Karate Bear will do for that, but it's not like he cares about how Aomine does on the test or anything; he'd just heard from Momoi that they had one and if he was sending her the day's lucky item it would be irresponsible to send it to him. Aomine gets a laugh out of that, typical Midorima. He tucks Karate Bear into his bag because it can't hurt to bring the thing anyway.

Lunch is spent on the roof with Ryou again; Ryou re-ties Karate Bear's belt and makes up a stupid comic about him that's not even that funny but they're both in hysterics anyway and barely manage to finish their food before the bell rings. The test is next, and it's surprisingly simple—all the studying that Satsuki had made him do is actually paying off; he remembers a lot of it. She'll surely be satisfied with the way she drilled all of those facts into his head. Well, if he gets a good grade, that is, but he's got a feeling that he will. He should tell Midorima; he'll get a kick out of it and attribute it to Karate Bear. He sends a text under the table in history, and five minutes later his phone buzzes.

_Don't text in class_.

_Well then what r u doing? _Aomine texts back.

_Go die._

Or maybe not. Aomine shrugs and puts away his phone.

He gets to practice early, faking sick midway through his last period class. The teacher lets him go, muttering something about staying awake in class and that there must definitely be something wrong with him. Aomine's never been a great student, but he's never been particularly book-smart or studious so that's to be expected, but this is actually kind of a low blow. He sticks it in the back of his mind as he throws on his practice gear, grabs a ball, and goes out to try some of those new layups.

They still feel weird as hell but they're landing in the hoop with increasing frequency, becoming smoother and less jerky. Even if he can't do basketball the way he always has, he's still pretty athletic and once he starts to get the hang of something the learning curve is in his favor. He starts to space out a bit and throws out an old-style formless thing that's really too close to be anything but a layup. It feels good, and it lands smoothly in the hoop. He tries another, same thing.

He moves back a little, throws the ball up—it spins around the rim and falls in. Again, it works. He finally misses a shot on the fifth attempt but he's not even really trying that time. Okay, so it's not Karate Bear giving him some freaky Midorima-ish power (not that he believes in that Oha-Asa crap). He moves farther still, shooting the ball as he normally does. The feeling is back to normal; everything makes sense in its usual crazy kind of way.

"Oi, Aomine. Practicing what I told you?" It's Wakamatsu.

"Watch this." He tosses the ball up easy from about a meter in front of the half-court line. Nothing but net.

"What the fuck?"

"I don't know, either, but it looks like everything's normal."

"You weren't pulling everyone's leg back there, were you?"

"You think I could keep that up for two weeks?"

"I wouldn't put anything past you."

"Oi." Aomine's seriously considering throwing the ball at his captain before he strides over and ruffles Aomine's hair awkwardly.

"Good to have it back, then."

Not good to have _you_ back (not that even if he left Wakamatsu would admit to missing anything other than his basketball skills). Good to have it. And it's definitely not a bad thing to have.


End file.
